The classes ended as the Sun began its slow descent. Many left in hushed murmurs, minding their volume in front of their Lord, while stealing glances at the far side of the classroom. It took ages for Cherry to make up her mind and speak up, exactly as long as it took the room to plunge into silence. To her surprise, his Lordship was still leaning on the instructor’s table, when she looked up.

“Is that true?”

He eyed her, his jaw setting at her hesitant voice. “What now?”

“About… my mana.”

A short nod. He did not say more at first. “Yours would be quite comparable to mine really.”

Her eyes grew large, “No-no, surely not! Besides I never.. It never happened before… doesn’t it usually… like… happen?” she stammered for right words. Wasn’t it given that the magic would have manifested before? Is what she wanted to convey. She never experienced magic before.

“It’s not unheard of - to not know. Although Mage’s biggest power is the thought, it has to be specifically wired. You simply didn’t think of making things different than they were. Well, until the tower - but that is usually the case. The mana would manifest in life or death moments.”

“Until the tower?” she echoed. He had mentioned something like that before. That he wasn’t sure then. “But… I didn’t use any back then…”

“It must have been unconscious. But it was powerful. All of the beasts just stood there as if frozen in time when I arrived. It puzzled me for the longest time really. And then that other accident happened and it became quite clear that you have great latent powers.”

Her head spun. Great and powerful wasn’t among the words she would even remotely describe herself. She tried to grasp the words he said, but their meaning somehow escaped her. She wasn’t no one that great. She was just a garnish, to make everyone look better. Ah, the thought brought on a surge of negative feelings. The ones that were swallowed by the words of praise and his gentle voice - as if all was well just as before.

He thought so too. They conversed as if nothing happened. As if he wasn’t a Duke and she wasn’t terrified of that thought. His heart fluttered and sank rapidly as her expression darkened. The change confused him.

A question died on tip of his tongue as she exasperatedly sighed. Frowning and puffed.

“Why would you give me such a name.” She grunted suddenly, not being able to call it stupid out loud. She loved the name too much to admit such cruel thought. “Couldn’t you have chosen an apple or pear? Did it have to be a garnish with no use?”

A few more questions died on his tongue as he tried to make sense of her words. What he ended up was a simple “Garnish?”

“Did you choose it just to make fun of me? To have a laugh?” she was close to tears now, “Was it fun to give such a name to someone so naive and stupid? To make me feel disposable as a cherry on a cake?”

He blinked once, then twice. Wasn’t cherry on the cake the best part? He thought, but couldn’t voice this opinion. It felt ridiculously inappropriate. Why did he choose that name? He thought some more. He knew exactly why. He was on his feet before he could think twice. “Come along,” was the command, and albeit it was a gentle one, he didn’t look back out of habit as he strode out.

The soldiers outside the classroom greeted His Grace as per usual. They awaited him to escort His Lordship as they would any other day - any other day that they didn’t loose sight of him anyway. All four of them clicked their boots and made to follow, interrupted by Cherry’s hurried steps, as she tried to pass by them following their Lord.

The familiar soldier’s eyes sparkled as he saw the scene. His eyes full of determined ‘you can do it’ as his Lord looked at him.

The soldier’s look made the Lord’s eyebrows twitch momentarily, before he commanded, “Stay here.”

His Lordship went on as the soldiers looked dreamily at the hurrying pair. The Lord didn’t slow down until he was at the walk where they had their first proper talk. He stopped in his tracks, just as he did that day, and as he turned to her, the girl almost made contact with him. She took a step back, her face flushed and worried. But not afraid - a mirror image of that day indeed. He swept his eyes to the side, catching the fluttering flowers in bloom. He made his way under the blossoming tree.

“M-My Lord?” she called out to him, followed slowly but surely.

“This,” he picked a cluster of sweet flowers, “is what I had in mind.”

Cherry craned her neck to see the delicate little flowers, but before she could take a proper look, he sneakily tucked them behind her ear. His fingertips grazed her cheek gently.

“I was thinking that you were as beautiful as those flowers. Fluttering in the wind - it made me think of the way your eyes looked.”

“Beautiful?” she asked.

He gave a nod. “I never saw someone as beautiful as you.” He looked her straight in the eyes, his usually pale face catching a tint of the blossoms above them. It took a single heartbeat for his feelings to pour down, “I never liked someone as much either.”

“Like?” she breathed. Too stunned to form a sentence. He liked her? How? Since when? “But… why?”

“Why?” it was his turn to echo her words. He meant to list all the whys - but he didn’t even know where to begin.

“No-before,” her words were cut short, the same way her mind was jumbled. Her face felt unusually hot - all of her did. She shook her head, not sure how to convey her messy thoughts. “You were…” she looked him straight in the eyes in hopes that he would simply read her mind perhaps. Why was he so cold before. Why did he avoid her when all she could was beat herself up about being rude and stupid. But it was all too much to convey with a simple look. Too many emotions altogether. Too many questions not answered. She chose the simplest words she could. “You turned icy.”

He winced at the description, he was not fond of it. But he had nothing to defend himself with. He did just that. “I was afraid… that you were… afraid… of me. After learning that I am the Duke.”

An adamant shake of head stopped his explanation. “I was not! I just… I just felt stupid. I should have know! You should have told me! And I was rude, to a Duke! I talked so directly with you!”

“Like now?” he prodded jokily, his smile waning as she drew a sharp breath of worry, “It’s fine. I like it better when you’re direct with me. That’s why I was reluctant to tell you. You were not stupid. It’s all on me. I just… wanted to keep whatever it was that we had, for I knew it would change once you knew.”

Hearing his voice drop slowly as he explained, lower and lower with each word, the light in his eyes went as well. Her heart squeezed violently at the sight, and before she knew what she was doing, she had his face cupped in her palms, tiptoeing to bump their foreheads together. It just occurred to her in passing, that he showed his heart to her but she did not do same.

“It wouldn’t change a thing. It didn’t. I like you as much as I liked you before.”

There was a bit of mis-belief in his eyes.

“Would you even dare to say otherwise?” the words whispered mirrored the one’s meeting of a past.

Cherry shook her head adamantly, their noses brushing gently. Her voice was confident for once as she said, “I wouldn’t, for I wouldn’t dare lie to you. I like you.”

She meant to say some more, to make sure he believed her sincerity. She didn’t bother as her lips were caught by his in a deep kiss followed by even deeper embrace. 

“I love you so much,” he breathed into her ear. Gently. Lovingly. 

It wasn’t first time he could hear her rapid heartbeat near. The warmth flowing from her, filling him up.

It wasn’t the first time he embraced her. The frame of her body falling perfectly into his arms. 

It was the first time his hear felt full. He felt content and happy as he never did. He could not possibly be more so. 

Or so he thought, until he heard her whisper back.